Sheet-feeding machine.



B; R. STIOKNEY.

. SHEET FEEDING MAGHiNE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.17,1911., 1,074,221. Patented Se t. 30, 1913.

2 SHEETSSHBET l.

Inward/ 07' dime V I Bergjarn (in .ASiC7t7Zf Zfl V y W me m M? B. R. STIGKNEY.

' SHEET FEEDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.17, 1911.

Patented Sept. 30, 1913.

7 2 SHBETSSHEETZ.

I 77116 nfo r lae 'm m 22.65%;

H ll nll V To all whom-it may concern UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

BEN AMIN n. ST'YIVCKNEY, or 'rrconfnnnoes, NEW Yonx. w

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN R. STICK- nEY, 'a citizen of the United States, residingat Ticonderoga in the county of Essex and Fork, have invented new and State of New useful Improvements insh'eet Feeding Machines, of which'the following is aspecifi'cation, v

This invention relates to a machinefor feeding sheets of paper from a stack or pile to a printing press, or to any other machine where it may be necessary .to successively feed single sheets, the invention being 33 improvement on the machineillustrate described in U. s. Letters Patent #939177,

granted to me November 2, 1909. Said.pat-

ent shows a sheet feeding mechanism. em bodying means for advancing a sheet from astack or pile to a pair of withdrawing rolls which take hold of the sheet, withdraw it from the stack or pile and deliver it to the printing or other machine. A sheet separating means cooperates withthe sheet 'advancing n. ans for separating the sheet from .the next adjacent sheet or sheetsr In the particular machine referred to, the sheet advancing means consists of'a' seriesof endless traveling belts which are intermittently moved into and out of'contact with the bot tom sheet of the stack oipile of sheets, said belts operating by. frictional contact to ad- .van g the bottom sheet far enough to be hold of by the withdrawing rolls.

take The sheetsepa'ratin device also consists of a series of endless be ts which are located so' .as tobe engaged by the advancing belts when the latter are raised for advancing a. sheetythe sheet traveling between the'two sets of'belts, The sheet separatingbelts are given a slight movement. in a direction opposite to the'travel of the sheet to separate it from the next adjacent sheet or sheets.

Said machine was designed for eneral purposes and has proved thoroug 1yv efiicient except where very thin tissue paper is being fed. The'front edges or the sheets of the stack orpile contact-with the sheet separating belts,-and the latter in their backward movement have a tendency to turnup or. curl the edges of the sheets which my pres ent; invention seeks to avoi It is necessary that the sheet separating device, whatever its form, be moved one way or another to avoid uneven wear. Rolls may be employed in lieu of bands or belts, but the latter are preferred because of their r Specification or Letters I Patent. Patented Sept, 30, 1913, Application filed latch 17, 1911. Serial No. 615,171.,

extended wearing surface. -If the s eparat irig belts or roller be moved in the direction 0 t he'travel of the she'et'while the latter is in'contact therewith, there is a tendency for the roll 'orlbelt to carry or feed .the next adjacentsheet or sheets, espciall ifvery thin paper is being fed. If a bac ardmovement is employed as in the beforementioned patent, the tendency to injure or curlup the ed es of the sheets. I have found, how- I ever, t at if-the separating device he. held. I stationary while, the sheet is being advanced,

and is moved during the intervalbetween the feed of the sheets, or at a time when the sheet advancing bands are out of contact therewith, all. difliculty will be overcome, es-

pecially if the separating bands or roll be.

moved in the direction of the travel of the sheet. fIhere will then be no tendency to advance more than a single sheet at a time,

and the front edges of the sheets. will be brushed or smoothed down in proper condition for the separating and feeding opera-' tion. The machine hereinafter described carries out this broad idea, and I have also embodied other novel features-which. will be specifically pointed out in the appended claims. I p p I To more particularly describe my invention I will refer to the accompanying drawings, in which I Figure 1 is a side view of-a sheet feeding machine embodying my'invention.- Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1, with a portion of the main frame and-parts of the mechanism removed for more clearly disclosing the underlying mechanism. Fig. 3 is a front view of the-machine with a part of the main frame'and parts of the withdrawing rolls broken away.-- Fig. t'is' a detailsectional 1 view showing the sheet advancing band, their su porting rolls, and a part'of the frame 0 the'machine, and- Fig. 5 is a detail of the friction holding device taken. on line 5-5 of Fig. 3.

' As illustrated, the main frame of the machine-includes sidevplates A and-A which may form integral extensions of the frame of a printing press. or other mach ne to which the sheet feeding mechanism is apv plied; but when necessary or desirable the sheet feeding mechanism in it's entirety may be constructed and supported independently of other apparatus. The'side plates 'A' and A are connected together at the front of the machine by a cross bar (land at therear of by screws or bolts a. which pass through perforated lugs a projecting from the cross bar a. The bar a may be raisedor lowered by turning the bolts in one direction or the other, as will be readily understood. The

slats B are spaced apart to receive between them the sheet 'advancing bands C which engagethe bot-tom sheet of the stack or pile of aper and advance it to the withdrawing thus D and E.

I Two levers Fand F are pivotally mounted on the cross bar a, said levers extending forwardly of said bar and carrying rolls a and c which are mounted between the' two levers with their outer ends journaled therein. Around said rollsare mounted aseries of endless bands 0, preferably composed of rubber, which, when the levers are elevated as shown in Fig. 1, project slightly above the plane of the slats B. in position to frictionally engage the bottom sheet of the stack and advance it to the withdrawing rolls.

Said bands are arranged to occupy the spaces between the slats-B during the .sheet advancing operation, and to thendrop down below the slats to release the sheet from frictional contact therewith during the operation of the withdrawing rollswhich pull the sheet from beneath the stack and deliver it 1 to the printing press or other apparatus. The levers F and F are raised and lowered,

for raising and lowering the bands C, by means of cams G mounted on the main drive shaft H of the machine, each of said levers being provided 'with an anti-friction roller 9 which rests on one of the cams G, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. '2, and in Fig. 4. The

cams G are soshaped that they will raise the levers F and F once in every revolution and hold them in their raised position long enough to advance the sheet to the withdrawing rolls.

The rolls 0 and 0 are positively rotated by means of a gear 9' mounted on the shaft H,

said gear meshing with a gear 9 mounted on the roll 0. These two gears are provided with teeth of sufiicient length to permit the raising and lowering of the levers F and F without separation of the gears. The roll 0' is also provided with a gear 9 which is driven fromthe gear-g by means of an intermediate gear 9 mounted on the lever F. The rolls a and c are constantly driven durfeedin ing the operation of the machine so that the upper portions of the belts will travel in the direction ofthe withdrawing rolls.

Mounted above the plane of the slats B and alining with the bands C are a series of endless bands J which cooperate with the sheet advancing bands" C to separate the lowermost sheet of the stack of paper from the next adjacent sheet or sheets, and these bands I term the sheet separating bands. Said bands are mountedon rolls 7' and 7" which are journaled at their ends in coupling blocks 7' the latter being adjustably supported by brackets j projecting from the cross bar a of the main frame. The two rolls j and' j are arranged 'one above the other with the upper roll 1' slightly forward of the lower roll so as to provide for adjustments of the bands J with reference to the bands C,-as will be hereinafter explained.

In'the machine illustrated, there are six sheet advancing bands 0, and each operates in conjunction with a sheet separating band J, the latter being arranged to engage the bands G 'at' a point slightly in advance ofthe stack or p1le of paper from which the sheetsare fed. The bands J are intermittently moved for the purpose of'preventing excessive wear. at any particular point. Each movement is very slight and is preferably in the direction of travel of the sheet. 3 The movement does not, however, take place while the sheet is passing between the two sets of bands, but 1s so timed as to take place when the bands 0 are lowered out of contact-with the paper and after a sheet has been drawn away from the bands by the withdrawing rolls. For preventin movement of the bands J during the iirave.

of the sheet, I provide a friction b1 ake P shownin Figs. 3 and 5. Said brake com-J prises a pair of spring arms I), p, which encircle the roll 7' and which arepreferably integrally unitedat their upper ends and suspended froma stud or pin p which connects one ofthe coupling blocks j with its supporting bracket 7'. The two spring arms 19, p are drawn together for frictionally engaging the roll j by means of a screw 30 the friction being regulated to suit conditions as will be readily understood.

As hereinbefore indicated, the stack or pile of paper rests onthe slats B with the V ront edges of the lowermost sheets in con- 12 tact with the bands'J If the bands J be moved In a direction opposite to the travel of the sheet they will tend to curl or comb .up the edges of the paper, especially if they aper be extra-thin. Bymoving thebelts 1n the direction of travel of the'sheet the edges of the paper will be smoothed down by the belts i'nfproper condition for the operation. The movement of the belts need not take place between the feed blocks 7'. The pawl is held in engagementof each individual sheet, but should be moved at frequent intervals, vas for instance after every fourth sheet, as in the machine shown, this being regulated by the size of the gearing employed. The beltsJ are moved by means of a ratchet wheel K with the ratchet wheel by means of a sprin Z0 secured to the pawl and to the frame 0 the machine, all as clearly shown in Fig. 1."

' The arm is is pulled down against the tension of sprinf K by means 0 a rod or bar k"- connected to said arm, said bar, at its opposite end, be-

ing forked, as at is", so as to embrace a stub shaft 1 secured to theside plate A of the main frame, as clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The forked arms is of the rod 10 are connected together below the shaft Z bya cap or plate I and mounted on said cap or plate is a roller Z which is engaged by a .cam Z mounted on the shaft Z; Suflicient space is allowed between theshaftl and the surrounding fork of the bar is to permit the latter to be drawn down by the cam 1?, and thereafter raised by the spring k Mount edon the shaft 1 is a gear. I meshing with a gear I on the main shaft H, the gears as shown being of such size as will cause the bar In to be raised and lowered about once in every four revolutions of the shaft H,

but this, as heretofore explained, is immaterial so long as the parts are so timed that the arm 10 will .bepulled down at an'interval between the feed of the separate I sheet of the stack and advance it to thesheets so that the bands J :may remain stationary while a sheet is being advanced and withdrawing rolls;

withdrawn by the When the levers F and F are raised by the cams G, the bands Cengage the bottom withdrawingrolls D and E,.and when the sheet reaches the bands J, whichare at such times stationary, said bands J operate by their frictional contact to hold back the next adjacent sheet 01' sheets so that only lone sheet will pass to the withdrawing rolls.

{Itsometimes happens, however, that two or more sheets will be stuck together so that',

, they cannot readily be separated by the bands C and J, and to prevent the possibility of two or more sheets passing to the withdrawing rolls, I provide additional rolls, so that said bands M will contactwith the sheets at or near their side edges. These for moving theratchetbetween the band and the slat. The adjustment is effected by means of screws m which pass through countersunk holes in the slats 'at a point between the cross bars a,

and a of the main frame. These screws pass through a bar m secured to and ex- ;tending across the main frame, and beneath said bar said screws are engaged by a thumb 'bands M are each arranged above one of the slats B and are so adjusted with reference thereto that only a single sheet may pass nut m so' that by turningthe thumb'nut the screws will, operate to draw down the slat between thebars a and a and thus'elevate the end of the bar which is in contact with the band M.

11 ofthe bands J and M are initially a justed by means of screws N which pass through logs in the bar a of the main frame and bear upon a lug n which projects from each of the coupling" blocks 7''. The coup- I ling blocks being pivotally mounted upon the supporting brackets 31', and being held in inclined position as shown, will have a tendency. to assume anupright position, so that by turning the screws N the inclination of the coupling blocks 7' may be varied for the purpose of varym the frictional en gagement of the bands and C, and for the purpose of properly supporting the belts U between the rolls 0 and c I t rovide small supporting rolls 0, as clearly s own inFigs.

1 and 2. y

In addition to the independent adjustall of the slats by means of the cross bar a .hereinbefore referred to. All of the slats havetheir front ends Testing upon the bar a and the latter may be raised or lowered by the screws 0 as previously explained.

The withdrawing roll E has its ends jourr naled in the side plates A and A of the main frame, and at one end said roll carries a gear 6 which meshes with the gear 9 on the shaft H, so that said roll is positively and continuously drivenin a direction for withdrawing and feeding the sheets. The roll D is suspended from the cross bar a by means-of adjustable brackets d which are pressed downwardly by means of springs mounted in housings d, said springs opcrating against adjust-able abutments d For maintaining the belts C in proper.

condition for advancing the sheets, I provide a brush P which is mounted between the levers F and F so that said brush is in constant contact with the bands C. This brush may be made of-stout bilstles or of wire, and should be mounted so that it may which are adjusted for varying the pressure 4 they brush downthe ed es of the sheet as.

be adjusted toward and from the bands to The brush operates against the surfaceof the bands and compensate for wear.

ventssaid surfaces from becoming polis ed or smoothed to such an extent as would ma- 0 set 1n motion 1n any suitable manner. In

terially decrease the frictional engagement with the paper to be fed. The operation of the machine is as follows: A stack or pile of paperhaving been placed in proper position upon the slats B, the main driving shaft is V. Fig. 3, I show a sprocket wheel H"mounted i advancing bands C will be raised and lowon said shaft which may be connected by a chain, to the source of power. During 'each' revolution of the driving shaft, the sheet ered as hereinbefor'e' explained, the bands being constantly driven for advancing the bottom sheet ofthe pile to the withdrawing .rolls. When saidbands are raised they frictionally engage said sheet and move it forward beneath 'the separating bands J, which operate to separate the sheet from the next ad acent sheet or sheets. The movement of the bottom sheet by the bands C is continued until the forward end of the sheet is en aged bythe withdrawing rolls D and E. t that moment the bands 0 drop away fromthe sheet so that its further advance is effected wholly by the withdrawing rolls free from the friction of said bands. The

speed of the withdrawing rolls should. be

such as to withdraw the sheet entirely from. 'the stack or ile before the bands C are again elevate and preferablybefore the bands J are moved. Should two ormore sheets be stuck together so that they cannot be separated by the bands J the rolls by the bands M, in which case the machine must be stopped until said sheets are removed. During the interval between the feed of one sheet and the next sheet, the bands J are moved aslight distance in the direction of the travel of the sheet so that heretofore explained. hould said -bands be moved during the travel of a sheet between the two sets of bands, the tendency 5 would be to feed the next adjacent sheet,

and while it is necessary in feeding thin paper to move'the bands J in the direction of the travel ofthe sheet, they may be moved in an opposite direction when feeding heavier paper, but should, in any event,

be held stationary during the feeding of the sheet.

my I 1. In a machine It will be understood that the structure of my machine may be widely varied without departure from the main features of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what Iclaim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is- I I for feeding sheets from a will be prcvented from passing to the wit drawing stack or pile, -the combination of a sheet withdrawing device, a sheet advancing device adapted to frictionally engage each successive sheet and advance it from the. stack 4 or pile to the withdrawing device, a sheet separating device coeperating with the sheet advancing device for separating the advancsuccessivesheet and advance it from a stack or pile -to the withdrawing device and then' move away from said sheet, a sheet separate ing device adapted by frictional engagement to coiiperate with the sheet advancing device. for separating the advancing sheet from the next adjacent sheet or sheets, and meansfor moving said separating device during an interval between the feeding of successive sheets for preventing uneven wear thereon, said device remaining sta-.

tio-narywhile each sheet is being advanced. 3. In a machine for feeding sheets from a stack or pile, the combination of a sheet withdrawing device, a constantly moving sheet advancing device adapted to frictionally enga e each successive sheet and advance it rom a stack or pile to' the withdrawing device and then move away fromsaidsheet, a sheet separating device adapted by frictional engagement to coeperate with the sheet advancing device for separating the advancing sheet from the next adjacent sheet or sheets, and means for moving said device during the interval-between the feeding of successive sheets for prevent ing uneven wear thereon, said device remalning advanced.

4. In a machine for feedin stackor ile, the combination of a sheet withdrawing device, a series of continuously moving endless bandsadapted to frictionally engage'a sheet and advance it from the stack or pile to the withdrawing device and then move away from the sheet, a second series of endless bands adapted to cooperate with the sheet advancing bands for separating the advancing sheet from the next adjacent sheetor sheets and means for moving said -second set of bands during the interval between the feeding of su'ccessivev sheets, said bands remaining sta- 5. In a machine for feeding sheets from a stackor pile the combination of'a sheet 1 withdrawing device, a series of continili sheets from a stationary while each sheet is being tionary whileeach sheet is being advanced. f

ously moving endless bands adapted to frictionally engage a sheet and advance-it from a stack or .pile tothe withdrawing deviceand then move away from the sheet, a second series of endless bands adapted to cooperate with the sheet advancing bands for separating the advancing sheet from the next adjacent sheet or sheets and means formoving said second series of bands in the direction of travel of the sheet during the interval between the feed of successive sheets, .said bands remaining stationary while each sheet is being advanced' 6. In a machine for feeding sheets from a stack or-pile, the combination of a sheet withdrawing device, a support for a stack or pile of paper, a series of endless traveling bands adapted to be moved into contact with the bottom sheet of the stack of paper for advancing the sheet to the withdrawing device and to be thereafter moved away therefrom, a second series of endless bands mounted above said support and adapted to frictionally engage the advancing sheet, and means for holding said second series of bands stationary while a sheet is being fed, and means for moving said second set of hands during the interval between the feed of successive sheets.

7. In a sheet feeding machine, the combination of a sheet withdrawing device, a sup-- port for a stack or pile of paper, said support consisting of a series of slats which are spaced apart from each other, a' sheet advancing device adapted to operate through the spaces between the slats for engaging the bottom 'sheet of the stack, and

'or pile of papers consisting of a series of .slats spaced apart from each other, and supported at a point intermediate their length, means operating through the spaces between the slats for engaging the bottom sheet of thestack and advancing it to' the withdrawing device, one or more endless bands mounted above said paper support and adapted to cooperate with one or more of .said slats for preventing the feed of more than a single sheet, an adjusting screw for said slat or slats located to the rear of the slat supporting means for de ressing the slat: at that point and thereby e evating it at the point adjacent said bands, for the purpose specified.

lntestimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing wit nesses. I

BENJAMIN R.

Witnesses: HOWELL BARTLE, oJos. H. BLACKWOOD.

STICKNEY, 

